Merck Brings Down Price Of 2 Aids Drugs In Brazil

Merck has agreed to cut the price of two AIDS medicines in Brazil, bowing to pressure from that country's government, which was threatening to develop generic copies of one of the drugs.

The government, which announced the development late Thursday, has now turned the pressure on another drug company, Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., which sells nelfinavir, also known by the brand name Viracept.

The government said that it had been negotiating with Hoffmann-La Roche on a price reduction but that the talks so far had been unsuccessful.

Government officials said they might break the patent that protects Hoffmann-La Roche's monopoly on Viracept in Brazil and make a generic version in government laboratories if the company did not reduce its price.

Health Minister Jose Serra, who has been negotiating with drug companies, said Thursday in Sao Paulo that he is willing to give Hoffmann-La Roche six months to negotiate an agreement but that if an agreement cannot be reached in time, "I will toughen the government's stance and perhaps break the patent."

"Merck has shown that it is possible to substantially reduce the price," Serra said. "We hope that Roche will do the same."

A spokeswoman for Hoffmann-La Roche, based in Switzerland, said Friday that the company could not respond to Serra's comments until next week.

Merck said it offered to sell efavirenz, known by the brand name Sustiva in the United States and by Stocrin elsewhere, to Brazil for $920 a year per patient.

It will sell its other drug, indinavir, known as Crixivan, to Brazil for $1,029 for an annual dose. In the U.S., Sustiva sells for about $4,700 a year, while Crixivan sells for about $6,000.

Merck's new prices for Brazil are higher than those the company offered to developing countries on March 7. Those prices are $600 per patient per year for Crixivan and $500 per year for Stocrin.